Canadian athlete Laurence Vincent-Lapointe has returned a positive test to a banned substance and has been provisionally suspended, meaning the 11-time world champion will not be competing at this week’s ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary. Vincent-Lapointe will remain provisionally suspended until due process has been completed. A full hearing will be held at a later stage.

“We are very disappointed this has happened on the eve of our biggest event of the year,” ICF secretary-general, Simon Toulson, said. “The rights of the athlete must be respected, so we will be making no further comment until the hearing is complete.” Vincent-Lapointe has won six C1-200 world titles and four C2-500 gold medals, and also last year won the C1-5000 final.

• This media release was published by the International Canoe Federation (ICF) on 19 August 2019. Click here for the original.